Antiskid chain coupling



April 15, 1952 J. J. FENDROCK ANTISKID CHAIN COUPLING Filed Aug. 12,1949 IN V EN TOR. /a///v d 72/1 030 Patented Apr. 15, 1952 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE I John J. Fendrock, Simpson, Pa. Application August 12,1949, Serial No. 109,921

zoiaiiiis. ((124-115) This invention relates to anti-skid chains forpneumatic tires, and more particularly to an anti-skid tire chain of theself-tensioning type; A main object of the invention is to provide anovel and improved anti-skid chain for pneumatic tires, said chain beingsimple in construction, being substantially continuous, being easy v tomount on a tire, and eliminating the necessity of hooking and unhookingcatch devices on inside portions of the chain, whereby the exertion andlabor involved in mounting and demounting the chain is substantiallyreduced.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved tire chainwherein the chain elements are substantially continuous, wherein thetire chain may be mounted on a wheel without the necessity of jacking upthe vehicle, wherein the procedure of mounting or demounting the chainon or from a wheel is greatly simplified, and wherein only a few partsare employed, said parts being easily accessible and safe to manipulate.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the following description and claims, and from the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view, taken from the inside of a wheel onwhich is mounted an improved anti-skid chain construction in accordancewith the present invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the wheel of Figure 1, showingthe anti-skid chain in partly-mounted position;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentarydetail elevational view of a portionof the chain illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, showing the tensioningdevice forming part of the chain;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken through thetensioning device shown in Figure 3, said view being substantiallyenlarged in scale;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 5--5 of-Figure 4.

Referring to the drawings, the anti-skid device comprises an outercontinuous chain section II and an inner chain section |2 connected bythe evenly-spaced cross-chain-sections |3. The outer continuous chainsection I is dimensioned to fit adjacent the outer rim portion of awheel, such as the automobile wheel I4. The wheel M has a pneumatic tireI5 mounted thereon in the usual manner. 7

The inner chain section |2 includes an expansion element or coupling,designated at IS. AS shown in Figures 4 and 5, expansion element 2 l6comprises a housing body formed at one end with an eye l8 connected toone end link of the chain section I2. Thebody I! is provided with acover plate l9. ,As'shown in Figure 4, the body H is relatively wide atits intermediate portion and is formed with a tapering outlet portion20, the bottom wall of which is formed with an upstanding shoulder 2|.Designated at 22 is an eye member connected to the other end link of theinner chain section l2; Eye member 22 is formed with a shank portion orrod 23 which extends into the outlet portion 20 of body IT, as shown inFigure4, said shank portion 23 being formed with a bottom shoulder orabutment 24 lockingly engageable with the shoulder 2| to prevent outwardmovement of the shank portion 23. Secured to the top wall of body I1 isa leaf spring 25 which bears on shank portion or rod 23 and urges saidshank portion against the shoulder 2|. Slidably mounted in the bottomwall of body I! opposite spring 25 is a release pin 26 having an innerhead portion 21 and an outer button portion 28. A light coil spring 29encircles pin 26 and bears between head portion 21 and the bottom wallof body H. The force of spring 29 is insuflicient to overcome the forceexerted by spring 25 on shank portion 23. Therefore, shoulder 24 remainsin interlocking engagement with shoulder 2| until button 28 is manuallypushed upwardly. Designated at 30 is a transverse shaft secured axiallyin the enlarged intermediate portion of body Rotatably mounted on shaft33 is a reel 3| on which is wound a flexible cable 32 secured to the endof shank portion 23. Reel 3| is biased clockwise, as viewed in Figure 4,by a coiled spring 33 encircling the shaft 30 and having one end thereofsecured to body I1 and the other end thereof secured to reel 3|. Spring33, therefore, normally tends to wind up cable 32 on reel 3| and urgesshank portion 23 inwardly of the outlet at the bottom of the anti-skiddevice. The chain is stretched as firmly as possible, and the car ismoved forwardly until the tire is resting firmly on a portion or thechain. The expansion device i6 is then unlocked and the remainder of theanti-skid device is stretched over the tire. The car is then movedforwardly a short distance, allowing the tensioning device IE to pullthe inner chain section l2 into position adjacent the wheel rim, asshown in Figure 1. As the inner chain section is pulled into thisposition the spring 33 moves the shank portion 23 into the outletportion 20 of the body I'I, causing the shoulder 24 to snap into lockingposition with respect to shoulder 2|, and thereby locking the anti-skiddevice on the wheel without requiring any further manipulation. shoulder24 of shank 23 is located outwardly with respect to the axis of thewheel I4, shoulder 24 is held in looking position not only-by the forceof spring 25, but by the centrifugal force acting.

on shank 23 produced by the rotation of wheel 14. The anti-skid deviceis removed from the Iwheel by pushing in the manual release pin 26 andthereby unlocking shank 23. This allows the shank to be pulled out ofthe outlet portion 29 and allows the inner chain section 12 to beexpanded, enabling it to be pulled outwardly over the circumference ofthe tire. While a specific embodiment of a self-tensioning anti-skidchain device has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will beunderstood that various modifications within the spirit of the inventionmay occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that nolimitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope ofthe appended claims. What is claimed is:

.1. An expansion coupling for securing together the ends of the innerchain of an anti-skid chain comprising an elongated housing having oneend secured to one end of said inner chain and having the other endopen, an internal shoulder on said housing adjacent said openaendthereof, a reel mounted within said housing for rotation about an axistransverse of said housing, a cable having one end secured to and woundaround said reel, spring means operatively connected to said reel forloading said reel for winding and unwinding said cable therearound, arod having one end extending into the open end of said housing andsecured to the other end of said cable, means on the other end of saidrod for securing said other end to the other end of said inner chain, anabutment on said rod intermediateit's ends and engageable with saidshoulder when said one end of said rod extends into the open end-of saidhousing for locking said reel in its wound position, a leaf springpositioned within said housing adjacent the other end thereof and havingone end secured to said housing and having the other end engageable withsaid rod for urging the abutment against said shoulder, and handactuable means exteriorly of said housing and engageable with said abut-Since the locking about an axis transverse of said housing, a cablehaving one end secured to and Wound around said reel, spring meansoperatively connected to said reel for loading said reel for winding andunwinding said cable therearound, a rod having one end extending intothe open end of said housing and secured to the other end of said cable,

' means on the other end of said rod for securing said other end to theother end of said inner chain, an abutment on said rod intermediate itsends and engageable with said shoulder when said one end of said rodextends into th open end of said housing for locking said reel in itswound position, a dirt shield positioned in covering relation withrespect to the open end of said housing surrounding said rod and securedto said housing, a leaf spring positioned within said housing adjacentthe other end thereof and having one end secured to said housing andhaving the other end engageable with said rod for urging the abutmentagainst said shoulder, and a manually operable spring biased pinextending slidably through said housing and engageable with saidabutment for releasing said abutment from locking engagement with saidshoulder to thereby allow unwinding of said cable against the action ofsaid spring means.

JOHN J. FENDROCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 318,369 Gottstein May 19, 1885547,060 Bourke -Q. Oct. 1, 1895 581,309 Savell Apr. 27, 1897 768,658Dongille Aug. 30, 1904 1,248,212 Walden Nov. 27, 1917 1,413,846 FredakApr. 25,1922 1,475,065 Gilbertson Nov. 20, 1923 1,627,555 Gause May 10,1927 2,346,477 Ederer Apr. 11, 1944 2,509,373 OConnor Mar. 14, 1950FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date Germany Oct. 5, 1931

